Yikes, It’s flu season! If you’re reading this it’s too late to suggest washing your hands, and shielding yourself from sick people because you already caught the bug! Sorry to hear that! But now what?! You’ve taken care of yourself as much as you possibly could, but you’re bummed that you’re spending a few unproductive days in bed, missing out on the gym, socializing, and you’re set back on your weekly goals.
Other than resting and taking care of yourself, here are a few ways to productively pass the time while you wait for recovery.
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1. READ
This one seems obvious. Remember that stack of books on your shelve that you’ve been meaning to get around to? Well now’s the perfect time to jump in. 😉
2. Learn a new Language
According to infoplease, these are the top spoken languages in the world. Might as well level up on a new language, if not, learn some of the basic phrases like hi, how are you?, please and thank you. You never know who you’re going to bump into. These basic phrases can go a long way.
| Language1 | Approx. number of speakers |
|---|---|
| 1. Chinese2 | 1,197,000,000 |
| 2. Spanish | 414,000,000 |
| 3. English | 335,000,000 |
| 4. Hindi | 260,000,000 |
| 5. Arabic3 | 237,000,000 |
| 6. Portuguese | 203,000,000 |
| 7. Bengali | 193,000,000 |
| 8. Russian | 167,000,000 |
| 9. Japanese | 122,000,000 |
| 10. Javanese | 84,300,000 |
Source: Ethnologue, 2014.
1. May encompass multiple dialects.
2. The macrolanguage Chinese [zho] includes 13 individual languages with at least 1 million speakers.
3. The macrolanguage Arabic [ara] includes 18 individual languages with at least 1 million speakers.
There are many places to learn online for free. Here are a few.
3. Learn a programming language
To be honest, programming sounds scary when you look at it from a far, but it’s so much easier than you might assume. If you’re new to all program languages, I would advise starting out learning basic HTML and CSS. Languages are always great to add to your resume, even if you don’t use them for your job, because they show that you’re an ever learner and capable of learning new skills. Here are a few that I have used to help me get started:
Codecademy is free and an interactive way of learning to code. It is well structured and you can chose from different skills and projects.
FreeCodeCamp is also a free source that is interactive. It seems a little more outdate, look-wise, to Codecademy, but it covers a few more coding skills that Codecademy glosses over.
Treehouse uses and videos, tests, and an interactive set up to help you learn code. This service is not free, but a monthly subscription service that allows you to learn as many different tracks as you’d like. If you’ve fallen in love with coding, this service may be your best choice that also lets you bounce around through well structured tracks.
4. Discover a new Youtube channel
What do you want to learn this week? I’m sure there is a channel for it. Get inspired.
Shoutout to my favorite channel Inside Quest. Every Wednesday they interview a new, inspirational expert about there success and failures that have brought them to where they are. Check out this weeks episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO8FRMr2Q_s
5. Watch TED talks
TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas. You may have heard of them. They are one of my favorites! They cover a variety of topics from business and science, to art and education. If you’re new to TED, here are the top 20 most popular of all time!
Well, now that you have some productive, but easy activities to fill your sick time, hope you feel better soon!
Share some of the productive things you like to do while you’re spending your day in bed.
What book are you reading? – What’s your favorite TED talk?
